


No One Left But Us

by Gabaidesk



Category: Corpse Party (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Inumaru Lives AU, aiko blames herself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabaidesk/pseuds/Gabaidesk
Summary: Inumaru survives Heavenly Host and goes back to the real world with Aiko. Both have lost the most important people in their lives and have no one else to rely on but each other.





	No One Left But Us

**Author's Note:**

> this first chapter is literally just aiko blaming herself because i gotta self project somehow

The silence between them was unbearable, broken only by the uncanny howling wind of the midnight. The sky was cloudy with no stars; the moon wasn’t visible, although its faint glow was the warm colored street lights lightened their way home, but only barely. Aiko felt as though she was about to collapse at any moment, she was absolutely exhausted, her legs still trembling after all the horrors she had to experience few moments ago, and even though she had company by her side, she had never felt so alone.

Haruyuki Inumaru, her classmate and companion on her terrifying journey- who had almost died by succumbing to the darkening because of her- stood by her side as she made her way home. Moments before completely being taken by the school, Inumaru was saved by their classmate and possibly his reason for living; Sayaka Ooue, or rather, her spirit.

“You have to live on,” she said, her voice cracking as she tried to keep her usual cold demeanor towards her childhood friend, her façade quickly crumbling as she gave in to tears and by consequence her sweeter side. She kneeled down before him, running her hand through the poor, broken boy’s hair, with a look of pure pity. No matter how many times she made it clear she had no interest, Inumaru had always been delusional, refusing to let go of the one person he cared for. “If you don’t, I won’t forgive you…” her words were supposed to come off as harsh but her voice was as sweet and caring as a mother’s, trying to calm down her desolated child. 

And Aiko watched, she fell to her knees and watched, knowing all too well this was all her fault, yet she couldn’t bring herself to cry, all that was left for her was this empty feeling inside her chest; guilt, failure, sorrow, mourning, all of it had fused into a big feeling of nothingness, only broken when Sayaka turned her attention to her.

“You have to take good care of him, Aiko.” Was the last thing her classmate- no, her friend- said, before simply disappearing, observing the look of pure horror on Inumaru’s face as he saw his world, his literal reason for living, vanish before his eyes, staring at the nothing Sayaka left behind before succumbing to mourning, letting out a ear piercing scream, followed by loud, desperate sobs and begs for the girl to come back. Aiko feared he might succumb to the darkening again, but such thing wasn’t gonna happen again, all that was left for him was to feel and express pure, unfiltered pain for his loss.

And so they were back to real world.

Upon looking at the boy, all she saw was a empty shell with the appearance of the boy who was with her a few hours ago. He was looking straight forward, eyes locked blankly on the path ahead of him. The silence was crushing and she couldn’t wait to get home and lay down, even if she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Soon enough they arrived and she stopped, looking up at the apartment and feeling the floor below her feet disappear briefly at the realization her sister wouldn’t be there waiting for her, nor ever again. She would never barge in her room with a cup of tea and try to pull a conversation; she’d never call her ‘Ai-chan’ again…

She swallowed hard and looked at Inumaru, who was…just standing there. Not looking at her.

“So…Haruyuki…” she whispered, her voice hoarse, not sure of what she was going to say, she just wanted to say something, anything, to anyone. “…be careful on your way home.” Was all she said, and just like that Inumaru walked away, not a word spoken, not a glance given, he just walked off…and the stomach wrenching fear of not seeing him again suddenly set in, but she did nothing, just watching sorrowfully as he disappeared.

She unlocked the door to her apartment and walked in, seeing the TV on at a medium volume, a late night show for adults was on, not something she’d be interested in. 

She left it on, for noise.

_

As she suspected, she didn’t get a single drop of sleep. She stayed the night awake, looking at the ceiling, anxiety taking over her. The fear that at any given moment the floor would crumble beneath her feet and she’d be dragged back to Heavenly Host is what kept her up most of the night. She would get up, look out the window, walk around the house, take a glass of water, lay back down, repeat...anything but close her eyes and sleep.

Aiko would sit in the living room, looking blankly at the TV, not paying attention to whatever was on, just looking at the screen, her eyes burning from the bright light. She would glance at the door from time to time, hoping that at any given moment, Kuon would open the door, smiling brightly as she always did, saying “I’m home” or “You should be in bed, Aiko”, scoffing at herself for being so pathetic. 

She couldn’t bring herself to go to school the next day. She could barely move from exhaustion, and the thought of walking into class, seeing Naho and Sayaka’s empty desks, and knowing that they weren’t just missing class, or at work, or missing, but that they were never coming back because of her, was enough to make her stomach twirl. 

She watched the day go by through her window. It was cloudy all the way to sunset, and probably nighttime, she didn’t know as she collapsed from exhaustion on her couch, falling into a deep, nightmare filled slumber that cost her yet another day of class.  
-

Day five, the sun finally decided to come out, the rays of sun coming through her window and spreading warmth on her cold skin and tangled hair, her eyes squinting slightly in annoyance before she covered her face with a nearby couch pillow. Her stomach groaned in discontent, she was barely eating these last few days, surviving merely on a lot of water and the occasional cracker. 

“…I can’t keep going like this.” She mumbled to herself, forcing herself to sit up. Laying around a lonely apartment and doing nothing wasn’t going to make things better for anyone. But she still didn’t want to go to school…she couldn’t face the questions that would flood her, not yet at least. 

She reached over to grab her phone, going through the contacts and some messages, most being classmates asking ‘where have you been’ or ‘do you know what happened to Saenoki?’. Her finger was moving on its own as she scrolled down, barely reading anything, just slightly running her eyes across a letter here and there, until she came across a contact number in specific; Haruyuki Inumaru, last message 6 days ago, ‘I’ll be there in a minute’, read and left unanswered. This was the day the two of them went to heavenly host to save Sayaka and Naho, well, Inumaru did, Aiko’s only objective back then was to find a way to make profit out of the cursed ground that almost took her life. It’s really astonishing how a few hours can change someone’s entire world just like that.

She pressed the chat. 

‘Are you on your way, Inumaru?’  
‘Not quite, I’m still packing some stuff to take with me.’  
‘Ara, are we going on a camping trip?’  
‘No, just some things for safety’  
‘I see. Don’t take too long, I can’t wait much longer.’  
‘I’ll be there in a minute.’

 

She felt her stomach twist and her throat tighten painfully. The texts were presented in such a carefree, almost innocent way, like two friends planning to go out, these two people had no idea what they were getting into, these two kids had no idea they would never return back home. The two kids who sent these messages to each other went to Heavenly Host Elementary, and all that was left to take back home were two hollow shells, completely devoid of them.  
Aiko let her finger wander, and scrolled up a little bit.

 

[16 Days ago]

‘Inumaru, I have found a method to go to Heavenly Host Elementary.’  
‘Really?!’  
‘Indeed. This is a trip that is far too dangerous to go alone, so I wanted to ask you to accompany me. I’m certain you would’ve asked to go regardless.’  
‘What are we waiting for? We have to go now, Sayaka must be in danger!’  
‘Calm yourself, although I know a method, I am not capable of doing it, not yet at least. But I will, eventually. When I do, I’ll let you know the details.’  
‘Hurry up!! Sayaka can’t wait for that long…!’  
A few weeks ago  
‘Niwa, is there really no way to go to Heavenly Host?’  
‘I’m afraid not. Although I have figured out the way which Naho and Sayaka have used, that being the paper doll, when we tried it, nothing happened, and we have tried several times. I have not given up searching for a method though.’  
‘When you find something tell me’  
‘You’ll be the first to know.’

Aiko felt her heart wrench. She was terrible. She had used Inumaru’s despair upon losing Sayaka for her own profit. She had taken advantage of his desperation and vulnerability to trick him into going with her, because she was just as much as a coward as she was terrible, she knew from the very beginning how much Heavenly Host was awful, and yet…

She frowned, and scrolled up more.

[A few months ago]

‘Niwa, have you heard anything from Sayaka?! I’ve looked everywhere and she’s nowhere to be found!! Do you have any clues?!’  
‘I believe Sayaka and Naho have done a ritual to go to a place called Heavenly Host.’  
‘Huh?! Why would they do that?’  
‘I don’t know the details exactly, but given both have disappeared at the same time, and after I sold Naho info on Heavenly Host, that is the only conclusion I can arrive to.’  
‘Then, how can I go to this place?’  
‘Huh?’  
‘If Sayaka is trapped there, then I need to go and save her, Niwa!’  
‘It’s not that simple, Haruyuki, you’d need someone else to go with you, since the ritual requires at least two people.’  
‘…’  
‘In which case, I’ll go.’  
‘What?’  
‘All of my research point to Heavenly Host being filled to the brim with spiritual items, filled to the brim with malicious energy. I’m most certainly getting my hands on those.’  
‘But saving Sayaka is a priority, right?’  
‘Of course’

Saving Sayaka had never been a priority. She had known from the beginning Naho and Sayaka were both dead, but she couldn’t make it out without Inumaru. Although, deep down, much like him, she wished that by some miracle Sayaka was still alive, and waiting for someone to rescue her. But she wasn’t. She had been dead for a long while, her corpse had rotten to the bone and her beauty washed away by the maggots.  
And it was all her fault.

Everything was her fault and her fault alone.

Aiko hiccupped softly, feeling a stream of tears form in the corner of her eyes. She should be worried, but all she could feel was relief, she couldn’t bring herself to cry no matter how much she tried in these past days, she suffered with the loss of her loved ones, she feared her own memories, and she loathed herself for what she did, but no tears would come out. It was nice to have those feelings finally pile up enough to come out, even if the cause was something as dumb as old text messages.  


She lay there, alone, in her apartment couch, sobbing softly and holding the phone close to her as if it was an actual person, giving her comfort in these rough times. She felt like those text messages were the only thing that could understand her grief.  


…but it wasn't.

There was one person who could understand.

One who had been through the same amount of suffering as her.


End file.
